Ghost hauntings of Mermaid Inn, Rye.

This inn is reputedly one of the most haunted in the whole of England. With parts of the building dating back to the mid-12th Century and once frequented by smugglers, the Mermaid has a long and rich history; perhaps ghostly associations are only to be expected.

Modern guests have reported seeing people walk through the walls, having their clothes rearranged by a ghostly figure of a woman being awoken by a man dressed in old-fashioned clothes sitting on their bed in the middle of the night.

The inn was once famously the location for a ghost watch, arranged by a local psychic in the early years of the last Century. The then landlord and assembled watchers are said to have witnessed a vicious ghostly duel culminating in the victor running his opponent through with his rapier, before hiding the body and fleeing into the dawn. As well as the periodic re-enactments of this fight, there are other phantom duellists, a Grey Lady and the ghost of a servant girl supposedly killed by a smuggler for speaking too freely about his illicit activities.